Beyond Writing Competition Round II: Creative Peace

On Behalf of the Judges

We are delighted to announce the shortlist and winner of Beyond Borders’ second writing competition.

Creative Peace was a broad theme and produced a correspondingly broad range of entries. We had personal stories and political stories, poems and polemic, even a short play.

The subjects were extraordinarily varied too, from a women’s writing workshop in Kathmandu to an inspirational speaker swaying crowds in Indonesia, from fractured families finding a kind of peace only at the point of death to fractured countries brought together by friendship at the point of a historic death.

Such varied material made it a pleasure to explore the many different worlds offered by the entries, to go beyond borders with the writers, sometimes literally in their depiction of different cultures and sometimes figuratively in their more domestic and personal interpretation of the theme.

The shortlisted entries all display deeply felt and technically accomplished writing and all have been a pleasure to read.

In dealing with such a wide and potentially abstract theme, it is remarkable that four of our five winning entries should be in the concentrated literary form of poetry, with its economy of expression and the ineffable power of its imagery.

The one exception on our list is Nimisha Menon’s heartfelt tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, The Price of Salt, which in limpid prose uses his Salt March of 1930 to illustrate the potency of non-violent protest and the difference one inspirational person can make.

Laurna Robertson also uses a central image, the tango, to illustrate political history, in this case that of Cuba. Elusive, beautifully judged images count down the decades in her touching poem, At the Buena Vista Social Club.

Jan Little is the only one of our shortlist to turn her attention to the domestic sphere. Her poem, Forgiving My Father, is a vivid and moving exploration of the complexities of family life and the power of reconciliation.

Peace on Earth, by Estelle Price, tells the story, in lush and evocative natural imagery, of Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in empowering Kenyan women. Creator of the Green Belt movement in Africa, she helped them defend their land against building work, enabling them to plant trees which would protect their environment and livelihood and give them control over their own lives.

The winning poem, Invitation, by AC Clarke, goes beyond these brilliant works to reach something mysterious and lasting. It works in a profound and deceptively unconventional way. Both provocation and incantation, its hypnotic rhythm and timeless imagery are designed not to lull readers but to unsettle them. Although only four verses long and written in simple, direct language, it nevertheless manages to challenge the reader‘s preconceptions, undercutting the narrator’s invitation to hospitality with implicit reproach for creating the conditions being offered.

This is writing by a poet at the height of her powers, subtle and sensitive, with a quality which speaks to the deep spirituality at the heart of this piece.

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WINNER

AC Clarke – Invitation

SHORTLIST

Estelle Price – Peace on Earth

Jan Little – Forgiving My Father

Nimisha Menon – Price of Salt

Laurna Robertson – At the Buena Vista Social Club

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On behalf of Beyond Borders Scotland, we’d like to thank you all sincerely for taking the time to tell your story, and your energy in creating such truly inspiring writing! All the pieces we received were of an excellent standard, and if yours hasn’t been selected this time, we still have one final round called Beyond Borders launching in the next few weeks, that we encourage you to apply to.

Please also use the link here to subscribe to our Beyond Writing mailing list and receive special offers, opportunities and news on the Beyond Borders International Festival, we hope to see you there!